icebob Posted February 7, 2009 Posted February 7, 2009 Hi All, I would like to alert all to an incident that happened this morning. I had been invited to inspect a new aircraft and when i got there another owner/pilot was "tinkering" with his aircraft in front of the hanger in full sun and said to us he was running a long extension cord out to his aircraft passed the aircraft we were looking at to vacuum all the grass seeds and crud(his words) from the seats and carpet. The temperature at the time was 41 ish degrees on the concrete. anyway i went to look at the new aircraft and would have been there some half an hour. On passing the other aircraft we noticed the cleaner was going and no movement of the guy there. We ran over switched the cleaner off and notice he appeared drunk and his words were slurred. The alarm bells rang for me when i noticed he was not sweating,we confirmed he is not diabetic. We removed him from the aircraft and carried him to the shade and wet him down as quickly as we could. his temperature was very high, we forced water into him, I am sorry to say about 2 Lts in about 40 minutes and kept water flowing over him, especially around the neck, arm pits, elbows and knees. His condition did not improve and we called an ambulance and got him to drink another big cup of water and it was then we saw evidence of some small improvement with his speech. This owner/pilot had gone from heat stress to heat stroke in just 30 minutes in the enclosed cockpit of his aircraft with only doing moderate to light work, he had not brought with him any drinks and had not had anything to eat this morning. If we or others were not there he could have died from the heat. Someone with a heat related illness needs quick action to preserve their life, cool them, lots and lots of water and call an ambulance please, we do not need to loose another pilot. So in this hot weather please keep the fluids up. One easy way to tell on a hot day if you have taken on enough fluid is clear or near clear urine. some heat related injuries to runners it may take 4-5 Lts of water(with a can of coke added to the 4Lts of water to provide the salts needed) to get them on track and naturally 4 or more trips to the loo to flush the build up of toxins. Bob.
turboplanner Posted February 7, 2009 Posted February 7, 2009 Thanks Bob, sounds like you probably saved the guy's life - timely warning to the rest of us.
facthunter Posted February 7, 2009 Posted February 7, 2009 Timely, all right. Good stuff BOB. I have no doubt that you effort did save the situation. ALL pilots should heed this. an absolute cold shower or immersion in cold water is essential or chuck water over yourself and stand in front of a fan.The body cannot take elevated core temps no matter how fit you are . Nev..
gofastclint Posted February 7, 2009 Posted February 7, 2009 Is the person ok? Lets hope they recover fast. One of The Oaks boys?
icebob Posted February 7, 2009 Author Posted February 7, 2009 Thanks guys, just my usual monday to friday work. We did a fair amount of inventiveness out there as there was nothing not even a hose available. I rang the hospital at 2pm today and he will be discharged tommorow so that is good news. No not at the Oaks, Camden, lucky the ambulance was close. I never got to fly in the DG1000e either bugger! Bob.
Guest Brett Campany Posted February 7, 2009 Posted February 7, 2009 Nice work Bob. I'm feeling for you guys over there dealing with the heat, be carefull over the next few days, she's gonna be a scorcher!
Guest Maj Millard Posted February 7, 2009 Posted February 7, 2009 Boy that's pretty hot for Camden, he's lucky you guys were around. Bit hard for us up here in NQld to relate to at the moment, it just keeps raining, and heat is the least of our problems.
Downunder Posted February 7, 2009 Posted February 7, 2009 Hello, From my work in the mining industry, I know a bit about dehydration and heat stress. If the person is incoherant and dizzy, seek medical help immediately. They may not rehydrate fast enough just drinking and require saline drips. Heat stroke is Very life threatening. Check your hydration level by the colour of your urine (yellow is bad)
Guest ozzie Posted February 8, 2009 Posted February 8, 2009 i used to look after 4 or 5 lge place turbines at the skydive nationals that were usually held at Corowa during the xmas period. running all over the hardstand refueliing and loading was a big drain on my light framed body. had to pay real close attention to myself. It took a while to learn the warning signs for myself as there was no one to look out for me. lots of water and cool showers during the day. we had a paticularly fast day were i had to do a hot section change on a Nomad, during the brief periods between loading and refueling the other aircraft, i slipped out of my routine during the afternoon. when the sun went down and i just finished off the turbine swap someone gave me a can of beer in appreciation. i cracked it had a sip realised how thirsty i was and chugged it on down. instantly intoxicated to the point were i could not even walk. came to a while later sitting on the floor of the shower with a bunch of people disscussing what to do with me. lucky someone checked out my still lit torch laying on the ground and found me and realised what happened. after that one of the skydiving doctors would wander around and check on all the staff and feed us sports drinks during the day. ozzie
gofastclint Posted February 8, 2009 Posted February 8, 2009 I have a camel pack and I find it to be very helpful. The thing about drinking water is that it flushes out the salts and minerals from your body. Plain water is actually bad for you in large doses. There are many different powdered sports drinks that will keep all your elements in check.
gofastclint Posted February 8, 2009 Posted February 8, 2009 i used to look after 4 or 5 lge place turbines at the skydive nationals that were usually held at Corowa during the xmas period. running all over the hardstand refueliing and loading was a big drain on my light framed body. had to pay real close attention to myself. It took a while to learn the warning signs for myself as there was no one to look out for me. lots of water and cool showers during the day. we had a paticularly fast day were i had to do a hot section change on a Nomad, during the brief periods between loading and refueling the other aircraft, i slipped out of my routine during the afternoon. when the sun went down and i just finished off the turbine swap someone gave me a can of beer in appreciation. i cracked it had a sip realised how thirsty i was and chugged it on down. instantly intoxicated to the point were i could not even walk. came to a while later sitting on the floor of the shower with a bunch of people disscussing what to do with me. lucky someone checked out my still lit torch laying on the ground and found me and realised what happened.after that one of the skydiving doctors would wander around and check on all the staff and feed us sports drinks during the day. ozzie Stop trying to pretend you are a human Oz, we all know you are a robot, I heard rumors that your hydrogen fuel cell was faulty and as soon as you had it replaced you were fine.
turboplanner Posted February 8, 2009 Posted February 8, 2009 Clear Urine - Yellow Urine, we have two different opinions. Which one is correct? Is it a good sign of the problem or are there others which are better?
Guest Maj Millard Posted February 8, 2009 Posted February 8, 2009 Sometimes it depends on what sort of girls you've been hangin' out with !.......
icebob Posted February 8, 2009 Author Posted February 8, 2009 I like a man that has "been there and done that and bought a tee shirt":thumb_up:
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now